Are you thinking of expanding your business to cater to the Latin American audience?
Localizing your sitio web (website) in Spanish can help. Selling to them in their native language can do wonders for your consumers’ customer experience. Not only will they trust your business more, they will also better understand the information on the website.
According to a 2020 survey, 65% of consumers prefer contenido (content) in their native language, and 73% at least want product reviews in their native language.
However, localizing your website does not mean simply translating the content into Spanish. You have to make your content culturally relevant and make the Hispanic consumers feel at home. This is why some brands specifically cater to their Hispanic customers in the US through localized websites.
For instance, the Spectrum en Español page allows customers to learn about Spectrum’s internet and cable offerings in Spanish. It also leads them to 24/7 customer service in their native language where they can talk to representatives that speak native Spanish.
Let us discuss how you can win at localizing your website for your Hispanic audience.
Build a Thorough Localization Strategy
It is important to have a localization strategy from the get-go so that the goal is clear for your team. Apart from catering to the Hispanic audience, your localization strategy should address the following questions:
- Does your producto (product) or servicio (service) transfer to the Hispanic culture naturally?
- Do you need to revise your pricing while keeping different regions in mind?
- How can you market the product or service in a culturally appropriate way for your Hispanic audience?
- Is your current website layout working or do you need to change it?
- How much of the budget are you going to allocate to the localization project?
- Do you have Spanish-speaking team members to support the localization?
- What is the deadline you have in mind for the project?
A proper localization strategy will give you and your team a roadmap to follow, so you can stick to your main goal.
Go for the Spanish Spoken by Your Market
Roughly 600 million people speak Spanish all around the world. As the second-most spoken language, the Spanish language has more than 29 dialects.
So, you need to be mindful of which dialect you choose for localization. While universal Spanish is a pretty safe bet, it is better to use the one that your target audience speaks. Only then will your localization efforts make a difference.
If you are targeting Latin American countries, then you need to see which dialects are spoken in those countries. Similarly, if you are planning to target Hispanics in the US, then you need to consider which Spanish dialect you should go for. In this scenario, you also need to be mindful of the fact that some of the Latinos are not well-versed in Spanish and prefer Spanglish instead.
Optimize for Spanish SEO
SEO is an integral part of launching a website, but translating your current keywords into Spanish just won’t cut it. If you are localizing your website for Spanish, it might already be optimized for SEO.
However, Spanish SEO is different and it is important that you optimize it for Spanish keywords and phrases. Only then will your website rank against queries in the Spanish language for your Hispanic market to discover it.
Moreover, it is important to optimize it while you are traductorio (translating) to improve its chances of ranking. Since Spanish SEO has its own set of rules, you should carefully look into them and follow them. Carefully researching Spanish keywords for specific markets and link-building with Spanish sites can help you immensely.
Lastly, you can also get help from a localization partner who is familiar with localizing for the Hispanic market.
Transcreate, Don’t Just Translate
If you simply translate your web copy to Spanish, it will sound weak and forced. Plus, it will also appear translated to the audience and will not be able to engage them.
This is where the art of transcreation will come in handy. Transcreating content instead of translating it means recreating the website content in Spanish, giving it a Spanish flair, in such a way that it still holds its original essence.
If you take the help of a marketing translation firm, you will be able to transcreate your website content. This will make your website engaging to the audience and improve your brand visibility. Since it will resonate with the audience on a culturally emotional level, the chances of scoring leads can increase.
Use Localization Technology
Technology makes processes smoother, faster, and cost-efficient. You need to commit to localization tecnología (technology) instead of manually managing your localization project. Not only will it prevent you from spending too much on your project, it will also help you complete the project in a reasonable time.
Here are some tools that can help you:
- Machine Translation Tools
- Linguistic Quality Assurance Tools
- Translation Management Systems
- Terminology Management Tools
Using these tools allows you to have consistent translation messaging throughout your website. Plus, they can also save a lot of your time through automation.
All in all, localization is a feat that requires attention to detail. So, it is important to dedicate proper team and resources to it. Only then, will you be able to grasp the attention of your Hispanic target audience and increase your chances of lead conversion.
